How does a pandemic differ from other incidents that need business continuity planning?
• Most incidents that have impacts on a business or organization occur relatively suddenly (i.e. in a matter of minutes, hours, or at the most, days). Even a hurricane is a sudden incident in the grand scheme of things. And most of these incidents impact services or facilities. • A pandemic, on the other hand, is a slow moving incident that can last over several weeks or months. And its primary impact is usually to people, not to places. • Response to most incidents starts with an emergency response plan (i.e. evacuation plan) and the business continuity plan usually kicks in after the initial incident and safety response to it are done. In the case of a pandemic plan, usually the emergency response plan and business continuity plan run hand-in-hand as the incident unfolds over a longer time period. • See the Business Continuity FAQs for more detail on general business continuity planning.
